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Friday, January 2, 2015

Today the Lord spoke to my heart, and said,
“I am going to bend your bow!” I thought to myself, “bend my bow?” I went to my computer and looked
up several scriptures regarding bending bows and the use of bows. The Lord
loves to speak in pictures and parables to illustrate truths to us, to help us
understand the journey ahead of us.

2 Samuel 22 and Psalms 18 reveal powerful
illustrations of the ways in which God will train us for war and for victory.
For the sake of time, I will post the shorter version below: But study the whole chapters for they
reveal much for the coming years ahead of us. We have much to recover, to
redeem, and to apprehend for the Kingdom.

2 Samuel 22:29 For You, O Lord, are my Lamp; the Lord
lightens my darkness.30 For by You I run through a troop; by my
God I leap over a wall.31 As for God, His way is perfect; the word
of the Lord is tried. He is a Shield to all those who trust and take refuge in Him.32 For who is
God but the Lord? And who is a Rock except our God?33 God is my
strong Fortress; He guides the blameless in His way and sets him free.34 He makes my feet like the hinds’ [firm
and able]; He sets me secure and
confident upon the heights.35 He trains my hands for war, so that my
arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 You have also given me the shield of
Your salvation; and Your condescension and
gentleness have made me great.37 You have enlarged my steps under me, so
that my feet have not slipped.38 I have pursued my enemies and destroyed
them; and I did not turn back until they were consumed.

Psalms 18:33He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or
make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me
securely upon my high places.

We personally grow and spiritually advance
the most under times of extreme testing and intense trials. Our very
thoughts/words will determine whether we fail or succeed in the allotted time
that we are given for the assignment. These are opportunities for us to achieve
tremendous victories in the earth and in the realm of the Spirit.

The Bow:the tongue.The
Arrows:the words that are spoken
forth.(Good
or bad)

Jeremiah 9:3 And they bend their tongue, [which is]
their bow for the lies [they shoot]. And not according to faithfulness do they
rule and become strong in the
land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me, says the Lord.

The revelatory word is to be within our minds, our hearts,
and in our mouths at all times. The Lord will inspire us to speak as His very oracles,
to declare forth His arrows to pierce the enemy and to destroy his works.

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet
(Prophet) from among their brethren like you, and will put My words in his mouth; and
he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Deuteronomy 30:14 But the word is very near you, in
your mouth and in your mind andin your
heart, so that you can do it.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any
effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

As we speak under the authority of the Lord,
our bow (tongue) releases the arrows (the words) outward into the atmosphere
around us to accomplish the Lord’s purposes. Our obedience is very important to
the Lord.

Zechariah 9:1The
burden or oracle (the thing to
be lifted up) of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach [in Syria],
and Damascus shall be its resting place, for the Lord has an eye upon mankind
as upon all the tribes of Israel,2 And Hamath also, which borders on
[Damascus], Tyre with Sidon, though they are very wise. 3 And Tyre has
built herself a stronghold [on an island a half mile from the shore, which
seems impregnable], and heaped up silver like dust and fine gold like the mire
of the streets. 4 Behold, the Lord will cast her out and dispossess her; He will smite her power in the sea and into it and [Tyre] shall be
devoured by fire. 5 [The strong cities of Philistia] shall see it and fear;
Ashkelon, Gaza also, and be sorely pained, and Ekron, for her confidence and expectation shall be put to
shame, and a king [monarchial government] shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon
shall not be inhabited. 6 And a mongrel people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will put an
end to the pride of the Philistines. 7 And I will take out of [the
Philistines’] mouths and from between their teeth the abominable idolatrous
sacrifices eaten with the blood. And they too shall remain and be a remnant for our God, and
they shall be like chieftains (the head over a thousand) in Judah, and Ekron
shall be like one of the Jebusites [who at last were merged and had lost their
identity in Israel]. 8 Then I will encamp about My house as a guard or a garrison so that none shall
march back and forth, and no oppressor or
demanding collector shall again overrun them, for now My eyes are upon them. 9 Rejoice
greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your
King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation
[triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, upon
a colt, the foal of a donkey.10 And I will cut off and
exterminate the war chariot from Ephraim and the [war] horse from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak the word and peace
shall come to the nations, and His dominion shall be from the [Mediterranean]
Sea to [any other] sea, and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the
earth!11 As for you also, because of and for the sake of the [covenant of the Lord with His people,
which was sealed with sprinkled] covenant blood, I have released and sent forth your imprisoned people
out of the waterless pit. 12 Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], you
prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will restore double your
former prosperity to you. 13 For I have bent Judah for Myself as My bow, filled the bow
with Ephraim as My arrow, and will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your
sons, O Greece, and will make you [Israel] as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And the Lord
shall be seen over them and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning, and the
Lord God will blow the trumpet and will go forth in the windstorms of the south. 15 The Lord of
hosts shall defend and protect
them; and they shall devour and they shall tread on [their fallen enemies] as
on slingstones [that have missed their aim], and they shall drink [of victory]
and be noisy and turbulent as
from wine and become full like bowls [used to catch the sacrificial blood],
like the corners of the [sacrificial] altar. 16 And the Lord their God will save them on
that day as the flock of His people, for they shall be as the [precious] jewels
of a crown, lifted high over and
shining glitteringly upon His land. 17 For how great is God’s goodness and how
great is His beauty! And how great [He will make Israel’s] goodliness and
[Israel’s] beauty! Grain shall make the young men thrive and fresh wine the
maidens.

1 Chronicles 11:11David’s
30 mighty men, and the 30 captains:

(The
age of maturity is 30)

11 And this is the number [thirty, and
list] of David’s mighty men: Jashobeam, a Hachmonite, the chief of the Thirty
[captains]. He lifted up his spear against 300, whom he slew at one time.

The Lord is not only bringing forth the
Mighty men and women of valor into the forefront, but He is also setting them
in their new positions, and training them for special duties and assignments
ahead of them. Below are some of the key verses for us to look at.Study the whole chapter for more
insights into the other weapons they used.

1 Chronicles 12:1 These are the ones who
came to David at Ziklag, while he yet concealed himself because of Saul son of
Kish; they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. 2 They were
bowmen and could use the right hand or the left to sling stones or shoot arrows
from the bow; they were of Saul’s kinsmen of Benjamin.14 These Gadites
were officers of the army. The lesser was equal to and over a hundred, and the greater equal to and over a thousand. 15 These are the
men who went over the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its
banks, and put to flight all those in the valleys, east and west.16 There came
some of the men of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David. 17 David went
out to meet them and said to them, If you have come peaceably to me to help me,
my heart shall be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my
adversaries, although there is no violence or wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look upon and
rebuke you.18 Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the
captains, and he said, Yours we are, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse!
Peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers, for your God helps you.
Then David received them and made them officers of his troops. 33 Of
Zebulun, 50,000 experienced troops, fitted out with all kinds of weapons and instruments of war that could
order and set the battle in array, men not of double purpose but stable and trustworthy. 38All these,
being men of war arrayed in battle order, came with a perfect and sincere heart to Hebron to make
David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one mind to
make David king.

The new emerging leaders will be knit together
from their very soul and heart, and they will walk in like vision and in unified purpose.
Together, they will be a formidable force, the very army of the Lord. They will
rout out and destroy every enemy, and take back that which belongs to the
Kingdom of the Lord, and establish His true Habitations in every land.